Korean-language input panel

ABSTRACT

The current application is directed to intuitive, easily manipulated, and fully functional soft-input panels (“SIPs”) and hardware input panels (“HIPs”), or physical keyboards, for mobile telephones, tablet computers, and other electronic devices that provide for input of Korean-language text. One implementation of the Korean-language SIP to which the current application is directed includes 16 different displayed input features arranged in four columns and four rows. The 16 input features of this particular implementation allow for input of all Hangul Korean-language characters as well as cursor control, text-entry control, and alternate-SIP toggles. Neither this section nor the sections which follow are intended to either limit the scope of the claims which follow or define the scope of those claims.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The current patent application is directed to an intuitive, fullyfunctional, and easily manipulated Korean-language input panels throughwhich users of electronic devices input Korean-language text.

BACKGROUND

Soft-input panels, or virtual keyboards, are electronically displayeduser interfaces for input of symbols to a touchscreen or otheruser-input electronic devices. Although ubiquitous and familiar to usersof mobile phones, electronic kiosks, and other electronic equipment anddevices that employ soft-input panels (“SIPs”), significantresearch-and-development efforts continue to be expended bymanufacturers and vendors of electronic devices and operating systems todevelop soft-input panels that provide intuitive, easy-to-manipulateuser interfaces that meet or exceed various goals under a variety ofdifferent constraints associated with particular device andoperating-system contexts. For example, text input through userinterfaces of mobile phones is often carried out by users using a singlethumb while holding the mobile phone with the fingers of one hand. Inthis context, a desirable SIP may have input features arranged forsingle-digit accessibility, constrained by the generally low accuracy bywhich users using only a single thumb or digit while holding the mobilephone can touch particular positions of a touch screen. Additionalconstraints may be associated with particular languages input to anelectronic device through text-entry SIPs. Different languages havedifferent numbers of symbols and characters with different associatedinput and occurrence frequencies and many other language-specificconstraints. There may also be historical user interfaces employed inpreviously encountered input devices or in previous generations ofcurrent electronic devices that have established user preferences andexpectations that represent constraints and goals for new SIPs. Many ofthe same considerations and constraints associated with the design anddevelopment of soft-input panels also apply to hardware input panels(“HIPs”) or keyboards, which include physical keys that are imprintedand labelled with corresponding input symbols or which include displayelements that electronically display corresponding input symbols. Forall of these reasons, the development of intuitive, functional, andeasily manipulated SIPs and HIPs represents a continuing area ofresearch and development for manufacturers and vendors of a wide varietyof different types of electronic devices and control programs.

SUMMARY

The current application is directed to intuitive, easily manipulated,and fully functional soft-input panels (“SIPs”) and hardware inputpanels (“HIPs”), or physical keyboards, for mobile telephones, tabletcomputers, and other electronic devices that provide for input ofKorean-language text. One implementation of the Korean-language SIP towhich the current application is directed includes 16 differentdisplayed input features arranged in four columns and four rows. The 16input features of this particular implementation allow for input of allHangul Korean-language characters as well as cursor control, text-entrycontrol, and alternate-SIP toggles. Neither this section nor thesections which follow are intended to either limit the scope of theclaims which follow or define the scope of those claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a cell phone and cellular radio tower.

FIG. 2 illustrates partitioning of a geographical region into cells.

FIG. 3 illustrates certain of the components of a 3G telecommunicationsnetwork.

FIG. 4 provides a high-level block diagram for certain of the internalcomponents of a cell phone.

FIG. 5 shows a high-level block diagram for a digital cellular basebandintegrated circuit.

FIG. 6 provides a high-level block diagram of the software architecturefor a cellular telephone.

FIG. 7 illustrates a soft-input panel (“SIP”) displayed on thetouchscreen of a mobile phone.

FIGS. 8A-C show the characters of the Hangul alphabet.

FIG. 9 shows nine patterns by which the Hangul characters, shown inFIGS. 8A-C, are combined to form morpho-syllabic blocks.

FIG. 10 illustrates a hypothetical, arbitrary soft-input panel.

FIG. 11 illustrates a first type of user-input operation with respect tothe hypothetical SIP shown in FIG. 10.

FIG. 12 illustrates a second type of user-input operation, using theillustration conventions of FIGS. 10-11.

FIG. 13 illustrates various different gesture symbols representingdifferent input gestures.

FIG. 14 illustrates a third type of user-input operation, using theillustration conventions of FIGS. 10-13.

FIG. 15 illustrates a fourth type of user-input operation, using theillustration conventions of FIGS. 10-14.

FIG. 16 shows one implementation of the 16-key Korean-language SIP towhich the current application is directed.

FIG. 17 shows the 16-key Korean-language SIP of FIG. 16 withsuperimposed crosshatching to indicate three functional regions of the16-key Korean-language SIP.

FIG. 18 illustrates two different types of gestures used with certain ofthe keys corresponding to consonants within the 16-key Korean-languageSIP shown in FIG. 16.

FIGS. 19 and 20 show input of Hangul vowel characters using the 16-keyKorean-language SIP shown in FIG. 16.

FIG. 21 shows the 16-key Korean-language SIP of FIG. 15 with circledfrequency-of-occurrence ranks associated with each of the displayedconsonant characters.

FIG. 22 shows the keys and key sequences used to input consonants viathe 16-key Korean-language SIP shown in FIG. 16.

FIG. 23 shows the region-based gestures used to compose each of theHangul vowels via the 16-key Korean-language SIP shown in FIG. 16.

FIG. 24 illustrates a general-purpose computer system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

The current application is directed to intuitive, easily manipulated,and fully functional Korean-language SIPs and HIPs for input ofKorean-language Hangul characters to various types of electronicdevices, including mobile phones. The current application includes foursubsections: (1) an overview of mobile-phone technology; (2) an overviewof the Hangul Korean-language characters; (3) a description of differenttypes of user inputs to an SIP; and (4) a detailed description of the16-key Korean-language SIP to which the current application is directed.Although the current discussion focuses on Korean-language SIPs, thebelow-described design and layout of Korean-language SIPs may also beincorporated within Korean-language HIPs. Korean-language SIPs and HIPsare collectively referred to as “input panels” in the followingdiscussion and claims.

Overview of Cell Phones and Telecommunications Systems

FIG. 1 illustrates a cell phone and cellular radio tower. The cell phone102 is generally a compact, hand-held device that includesalphanumeric-character input keys, such as key 104, for input of numericand text-character data, various control keys 106, for navigationthrough user-interface displays and menus, an LCD display 108, and aradio-frequency antenna 110. The cell phone broadcasts radio-frequencysignals to, and receives radio-frequency signals from, one or more localcellular radio towers 116. The radio-frequency signals are multiplexedby frequency-division-multiple-access (“FDMA”) orcode-division-multiple-access (“CDMA”) multiplexing to allow many celltelephones to broadcast and receive signals from multiple cellular radiotowers within a local geographical area.

The word “cell” in the phrase “cell phone” and the word “cellular” inthe phrases “cellular network” and “cellular radio tower” refers to thepartitioning of a geographical region into generally hexagonally-shapedsub-regions, referred to as “cells,” by the locations and directionalbroadcast characteristics of a number of cellular radio towers. FIG. 2illustrates partitioning of a geographical region into cells. In FIG. 2,a large number of cellular radio towers are depicted as vertical linesegments capped with a small disk, such as vertical line segment 202.Each cellular radio tower generally includes a three-sided, ortriangular, antenna mount that allows for broadcast and reception orradio signals roughly aligned with three directional, co-planar axesseparated from one another by 120°, such as the three axes 204-206 shownfor cellular radio tower 202. The geographical region is subdivided intohexagonal cells, indicated in FIG. 2 by dashed lines. Hexagonal cell 210is served by cellular radio towers 202, 212, and 214, each with adirectional broadcast axis directed towards the center of the cell. Acell-telephone user may walk or drive from one cell to another, and thenetwork of cellular radio towers, associated base stations connected toa complex telecommunications network, allows the telecommunicationsnetwork to transfer the mobile-electronic device, in real time, frombroadcasting and receiving signals from the cellular radio towersassociated with one cell to those associated with another, withoutinterruption in an on-going phone call or electronic data-exchangeoperation.

There are a variety of different types of mobile telecommunicationssystems. One common mobile telecommunications system is referred to asthe “universal mobile telecommunication system” (“UMTS”), one of severalthird-generation (“3G”) mobile telecommunications technologies. The UMTSsystem supports data transfer rates up to 21 Mbit/second, although, withcurrent handsets, maximum data-transfer rates generally do not exceed7.2 Mbit/second. UMTS systems provide for cells of varying sizes,depending on population density, presence of buildings and otherobstacles, and other considerations. In rural areas, cellular telephonetowers may be separated by distances greater than 30 miles, while, incertain urban environments, a cell may span a single floor of abuilding.

FIG. 3 illustrates certain of the components of a 3G telecommunicationsnetwork. In FIG. 3, cellular telephone towers and other antennas areindicated by antenna-like symbols, such as antenna-like symbol 302. Eachcellular radio tower, or other antenna, is associated with a Node B basestation, such as Node B base station 304 with which antenna 302 isassociated. A single Node B base station may be associated with multipleantennas or cellular radio towers. The base stations include poweramplifiers, digital-signal processors, and back-up batteries, and aregenerally responsible for broadcasting signals received by the basestation from the cellular network to cell phones within the geographicalarea serviced by the base station and for forwarding signals receivedfrom cell phones to the cellular network. Base stations are directlyconnected to radio network controllers (“RNC”), such as RNC 306 in FIG.3. Each RNC may be connected to multiple base stations. The RNCs are, inturn, connected to various components of the core cellular network,including a mobile switching center (“MSC”) 310, a media gateway (“MGW”)312, and a serving GPRS support node (“SGSN”) 314, the acronym “GPRS”standing for “general packet radio service.” The SGSN 314 interconnectsRNCs, via gateway GPRS support nodes (“GGSN”) 316, to remote computingsystems 318 and 320 via the Internet 322. The MSC 310 interconnects RNCswith a public switched telecommunications network (“PSTN”) 324. The MGW312 is concerned with data transfer in both circuit-based switchnetworks, such as PSTN, as well as in packet-based switch networks, suchas the Internet, and is controlled by SGSNs and MSCs. Many additionalcomponents are included in the core telecommunications network,including a home-subscriber-server facility 330, home-location-registerand authentication center 332, and many additional components and nodesnot shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 4 provides a high-level block diagram for certain of the internalcomponents of a cell phone. Referring first to FIG. 4A, these componentsinclude a dual-core digital cellular baseband integrated circuit 402,which converts analog radio signals to digital signals and digitalsignals to analog signals, manages communications-protocol layers, andruns certain cell telephone applications, including applicationsresponsible for initiation of phone-calls and maintenance of alocally-stored phone book, and a portion of the cell-phone userinterface. The digital cellular baseband integrated circuit isinterconnected with external RAM 404 and flash 406 memory, a subscriberidentity module (“SIM”), or SIM card, 408, a power-management integratedcircuit 410, a cellular radio-frequency (“RF”) transceiver 412, aseparate application processor integrated circuit 414, and a Bluetoothmodule 416 that includes a processor 418 and both RAM 420 and ROM memory422. The application processor 414 provides the computational bandwidthto a variety of non-radio-communications applications, includingdigital-camera-based applications, Internet browser, games, networking,and GPS-related functions. An application processor may be connected toa video camera 428, a WLAN module 430, a GPS module 432, an MMC/SD card434, and an LCD screen 436. The application processor is additionallyinterconnected with external RAM 440 and flash 442 memories, andincludes a processor 444 and internal ROM 446 and RAM 448 memory. Onmodern cell phones, the display screen 436 is generally a touch screenthat both displays graphics, text, and images and that receives userinput. The user input includes touch input at particular screenpositions and/or continuous motions including one or more of initialpoints of the continuous motion, a direction of the continuous motion,and final point at which the continuous motion terminates.

FIG. 5 shows a high-level block diagram for a digital cellular basebandintegrated circuit. The digital cellular baseband integrated circuit(402 in FIG. 4) includes a digital signal processor (“DSP”) 502, amicrocontroller 504, shared internal RAM 506, and DSP-associated RAM 508and ROM 510 as well as microcontroller-associated RAM 512 and ROM 514.

FIG. 6 provides a high-level block diagram of the software architecturefor a cellular telephone. The DSP (502 in FIG. 5) is responsible for thephysical layer of the protocol stack associated with RF broadcast andreception 602, provides an audio codec 604, and carries out tasksassociated with the first layer of a three-layer communications-protocolstack 606. The microcontroller (504 in FIG. 5) executes software thatimplements the upper two layers of the three-layer protocol stack 610and 612, various radio-management functions 614, and executes certainapplications 614 and user-interface routines 616 layered above areal-time operating system 618. For example, the microcontroller maystore and manage a local phone book and provide a user-interface (“UI”)for initiating and answering phone calls, via a phone application theexecutes on the microcontroller. The application processor (414 in FIG.4) runs numerous software applications 620 and UI routines 622 above anoperating system and a middle-ware layer 624, including a web browserand many different types of applications programs, including games,utilities, dictionaries, and other applications.

A cell phone thus generally contains, at a minimum, three processors,including an application processor, microcontroller, and DSP, and oftenas many as six or more processors, including processors within separateBluetooth, GPS, and WLAN modules. The cell phone includes variousdifferent electronic memories, some integrated with the processors andothers external to the processors and interconnected with the processorsvia memory busses.

FIG. 7 illustrates a soft-input panel (“SIP”) displayed on thetouchscreen of a mobile phone. The mobile phone 702 in FIG. 7 includes atouchscreen that covers most of the visible surface of the mobile phone.The mobile phone currently displays a 16-key SIP 704 as well as asymbol-entry window 706 that displays a sequence of symbols entered intothe symbol-entry window by touch-based user input to the SIP. A smalldisplay underline feature 708 indicates a current cursor position withinthe sequence of symbols displayed in the symbol-input window 706. As auser touches successive keys of the SIP, symbols corresponding to thetouched keys are sequentially entered into the symbol-entry window 706.Various input keys may control the position of the cursor, such as key710 and key 711, and an additional key 712 may serve to indicatecompletion of a line of input symbols desired by a user of the mobilephone and direct a control program to process, package, and transfer theinput symbol to an application program executing within the mobilephone.

It should be noted that an SIP is not an abstract orentirely-software-implemented component of a mobile phone or otherelectronic device, but is, instead, a physical and concrete userinterface that is manipulated by human users and through which humanusers create symbol sequences and transfer the symbol sequences toelectronic memory within the mobile phone or other electronic device forstorage and for access by various application programs. An SIP isvisible, responds to user input, and carries out real-world tasksinvolving many different physical transformations. An SIP is no less adevice component than the memories, processors, and logic circuitswithin a mobile phone or other electronic device.

Overview of the Korean-Language Hangul Characters

Although many people unfamiliar with the Korean language assume that theKorean language is written with Chinese-like characters, it is actuallywritten using the Hangul alphabet. FIGS. 8A-C show the characters of theHangul alphabet. FIG. 8A shows simple consonants of the Hangul alphabet.Each consonant is shown in two different fonts. For example, theconsonant ieung is shown in a first script-like font 802 as well as in ablock-printing-like font 804. FIG. 8B shows the 21 vowels of the Hangulalphabet. A first row 805 includes simple vowels and a second row 806includes complex vowels. As in FIG. 8A, each vowel is shown in twodifferent fonts, including a script-like font and a block-printing-likefont. As described further below, all of the vowels are composed of oneor more of three basic strokes: (1) a vertical stroke; (2) a horizontalstroke; and (3) either a vertical or horizontal short stroke. FIG. 8Cillustrates a number of additional Hangul characters that each comprisesa sequence of two consonants from the list of basic consonants shown inFIG. 8A. For example, the character ssangsiot 810 is composed of twoinstances of the character slot (808 in FIG. 8A).

It is interesting to note that the Hangul alphabet was invented in theyear 1444 by King Sejong. The Hangul characters and writing system isremarkably systematic and rational, as a result of having beendeliberately formulated, rather than evolving over time.

In the Hangul writing system, the characters are combined in blocks thatrepresent morphemes and syllables. FIG. 9 shows nine patterns by whichthe Hangul characters, shown in FIGS. 8A-C, are combined to formmorpho-syllabic blocks. In a first pattern 902, an initial consonant,which can be either a simple or double consonant, is combined with asingle vowel in a horizontal two-character sequence. In FIG. 9, of theletter “i” stands for the initial consonant and the letter “m” standsfor the medial vowel that together comprise a morpheme or syllable.Certain blocks additionally include a final consonant, represented inFIG. 9 by the letter “f.” Two examples of morpho-syllabic blocks 904 and905 constructed according to the pattern 902 are shown to the right ofthe first pattern 902. The first example 904 includes a simple-consonantinitial consonant and the second example 905 includes a double-consonantinitial consonant. In a second pattern 906, the initial consonant andmedial vowel are arranged vertically. In a third pattern 908, theinitial consonant is placed in the upper left-hand corner of the block,and a medial vowel that includes both horizontal and vertical componentsfills the remaining portion of the block. An example morpho-syllabicblock 910 constructed according to this third pattern 908 is shown tothe right of the pattern description. This example morpho-syllabic blockis composed of the consonant giyeok (807 in FIG. 8A) and the complexvowel wa (830 in FIG. 8B). Three additional block-construction patterns912-914 are similar to patterns 902, 906, and 908, respectively, withthe addition of a simple-consonant final consonant underlying eachpattern. As an example, pattern 912 includes a horizontally orderedinitial consonant and medial vowel as well as a final consonant 916underlying the initial consonant and medial vowel. Three final patterns918-920 include double-consonant final consonants rather than singlefinal consonants.

The organization of basic Hangul characters into morpho-syllabic blocksis probably the basis for the common misunderstanding that theKorean-language is written in Chinese-like characters. The use ofmorpho-syllabic blocks to represent morphemes and syllables maycontribute to a greater natural readability of the Korean-language incontrast to linearly written languages, such as English, andcharacter-based languages, such as Chinese.

Various Types of User Inputs to an SIP

In this section, various types of hypothetical user inputs to ahypothetical soft-input panel are discussed. FIG. 10 illustrates ahypothetical, arbitrary soft-input panel. The soft-input panel (“SIP”)includes 16 different input features, or keys, arranged in four columnsand four rows, and each associated with a symbol displayed within thesurface area of the SIP corresponding to the key. For example, a firstkey, or display feature, 1004 may be touched by a user to input ahexagonal symbol to an electronic device, such as a mobile phone.

FIG. 11 illustrates a first type of user-input operation with respect tothe hypothetical SIP shown in FIG. 10. In this operation, represented inFIG. 11 and in subsequent figures by a large shaded disk 1102superimposed over an input key 1104, a user touches an input key inorder to input a symbol associated with the input key. Processing ofthis type of user input is illustrated in the lower portion 1106 of FIG.11. A control program senses the position of the user's touch 1108 withrespect to a coordinate system 1110 logically superimposed over the SIPand maps that position to a symbol based on a map 1112 that associatessymbols to regions of the SIP corresponding to keys.

FIG. 12 illustrates a second type of user-input operation, using theillustration conventions of FIGS. 10-11. In the second type of userinput, the user briefly touches a particular position of the SIP andthen briefly moves the user's thumb or finger in a particular direction.This type of user input is generally referred to as a “flick,” “gesture”or, more particularly, as a “directional gesture.” The gesture isrepresented, in FIG. 12, by a shaded disk and associated directionalarrow 1202, with the shaded disk superimposed over the input key 1204initially touched by the user. A control program may interpret thegesture in different ways, depending on a particular context in whichthe gesture is input, arbitrary meanings given to gestures by thecontrol program, and other considerations. For example, as shown in FIG.12, gesture 1202 input to the hypothetical SIP shown in FIG. 10 may bealternatively interpreted, by various different SIP-control-programimplementations, as: (1) a vertical-bar symbol associated with key 1204and an upward-direction indication 1206; (2) an upward-directionindication and triangular symbol 1208, the triangular symbol associatedwith the input key where the gesture ended; (3) a sequence of a verticalbar symbol and triangular symbol 1210; or (4) an upward-directionindication 1212.

FIG. 13 illustrates various different directional-gesture symbolsrepresenting different input gestures. In certain cases, only fourdirections may be recognized by an input device and control program,such as upward 1302, downward 1304, leftward 1306, and rightward 1308directions. Alternatively, four diagonal directions 1310-1313 may bealternatively recognized by an input device and control program. In yetadditional cases, an input device and control program may recognize alleight of the gesture directions shown in FIG. 13. Although it would bepossible to attempt to recognize many different radial directionsemanating from an initial touch point, practically, in small mobiledevices operated using a single digit or thumb, it is better to attemptto recognize only a few different directions associated with directionalgestures, such as the four directions of directional gestures 1302,1304, 1306, and 1308 shown in FIG. 13, since a user can indicatedirections with only limited precision.

FIG. 14 illustrates a third type of user-input operation, using theillustration conventions of FIGS. 10-13. In the case shown in FIG. 14,the SIP is divided into four regions, as indicated by dashed lines, suchas dashed line 1402, each region comprising four input features, orkeys, arranged in two rows and columns. For example, a first region 1404includes input keys 1406-1409. The initially touched location at thebeginning of a directional gesture, for example the initial touchrepresented by crosshatched disk 1410 in FIG. 14, is associated with oneof the four regions, rather than with a particular key. The direction ofa directional gesture is then used, in combination with the regioncorresponding to the initial touch, to select a particular input key.For example, given the initial touch point 1410 shown in FIG. 14, eachof four different possible directional gestures 1412-1415 selectssymbols 1416-1419, respectively. This type of user input is referred to,below, as a “region-based gesture.” The region-based gesture can becontrasted to a key-based gesture, as described above with reference toFIG. 12, which generally refers to a particular key.

FIG. 15 illustrates a fourth type of user-input operation, using theillustration conventions of FIGS. 10-14. This type of user input isreferred to as “continuous, sequential input.” In continuous, sequentialinput, a user initially touches a first key and then, in continuousfashion, moves the touching digit or thumb to one or more additional,adjacent keys in vertical and/or horizontal directions. For example, asshown in FIG. 15, a user initially touches input key 1502, asrepresented by shaded disk 1504, and then continuously moves thetouching finger or thumb, as indicated by arrows 1506 and 1508, to inputkeys 1510 and 1512. This continuous, sequential input is interpreted bythe input device and control program, as indicated in the lower portionof FIG. 15 1514, as the three-symbol sequence 1516 comprising a squaresymbol 1518, an “I”-like symbol 1520, and a circular symbol 1522associated with keys 1502, 1510, and 1512.

A 16-Key Korean-Language SIP Implementation that Represents an Exampleof the Korean-Language SIPs to which the Current Application is Directed

FIG. 16 shows one implementation of the 16-key Korean-language SIP towhich the current application is directed. The 16-key Korean-languageSIP 1602 includes 16 keys arranged in four rows 1604-1607 and fourcolumns 1608-1611. The first three rows 1604-1606 include keys that eachcorresponds to one or more Hangul characters. The last row 1607 includescursor-control and other control keys as well as toggles that involvealternative SIPs for input of punctuation and numeric symbols andEnglish language characters.

FIG. 17 shows the 16-key Korean-language SIP of FIG. 16 withsuperimposed crosshatching to indicate three functional regions of the16-key Korean-language SIP. As shown in FIG. 17 with narrowcrosshatching, a first, upper-right-hand functional region 1702 includesthree keys used to compose Hangul vowels. A second, non-crosshatchedregion 1704 includes keys for entering Hangul consonants. The final,lower crosshatched region 1706, as discussed above, includescursor-control and other control keys as well as apunctuation/numeric-symbol SIP toggle and an English-language-SIPtoggle.

FIG. 18 illustrates two different types of gestures used with certain ofthe keys corresponding to consonants within the 16-key Korean-languageSIP shown in FIG. 16. Each of the Hangul-character-associated keys inthe first three rows corresponds to a primary Hangul character with astroke that is centrally and most prominently displayed within the key.A single-key touch input, described above with reference to FIG. 11, isdirected to a key of the first three rows in order to input a centrallyand prominently displayed Hangul character associated with the key, withthe exception of the short-stroke input key, discussed further below,used only for composing multi-stroke vowels. In certain cases, anupward-directed gesture 1802 directed to a key results in input of acharacter with an appearance similar to that of the centrally andprominently displayed character but which includes an additional stroke.For example, an upward-directed gesture directed to the key 1804 thatcentrally and prominently displays the consonant diegut 1806 adds astroke to the consonant diegut to produce the consonant tieut 1808. Thiskey displays, in smaller font, the consonant tieut 1810 above thecentrally and prominently displayed consonant diegut 1806 to indicate tothe user that an upward-directed gesture directed to key 1804 will inputthe consonant tieut 1810 rather than the consonant diegut 1806.

For certain keys of the 16-key Korean-language SIP, input of adownward-directed gesture 1812 to a key that centrally and prominentlydisplays a consonant results in input of a double consonant in which thecentrally and prominently displayed consonant is twice repeated. As anexample, input of a downward-directed gesture 1814 to the key 1804 thatcentrally and prominently displays the consonant diegut 1806 results ininput of the double consonant ssangdigeut 1816 rather than diegut 1806,as indicated by the ssangdigeut character 1818 displayed below thecentrally and prominently displayed diegut character 1806 within key1804. Similar directional-gesture inputs can be used for key 1820, whichcentrally and prominently displays the consonant giyeok, key 1822 whichcentrally and prominently displays the consonant jieut, and key 1824which centrally and prominently displays the consonant bieup. Anupward-directed gesture can be input to key 1826, which prominentlydisplays the consonant ieung, to input the consonant hieut 1828 and adownward-directed gesture can be input to the key 1830, which centrallyand prominently displays the consonant siot to input the consonantssangsiot 1832. In similar fashion, key 1834, which centrally andprominently displays a space symbol, can, when a downward-directedgesture is input, result in an enter or return control function, shownby symbol 1836 below the space symbol 1838. The backspace key 1840,punctuation and numeric SIP toggle key 1842, and English-language SIPtoggle key 1844 all receive only touch input as discussed above withreference to FIG. 11.

In certain implementations, continuous, sequential input beginning on afirst key associated with a consonant and ending on a second keyassociated with a consonant can be used to input certain of the doubleconsonants. For example, continuous, sequential input to keys 1846 and1820 can be used to input the double consonant 812 shown in FIG. 8C.

FIGS. 19 and 20 show input of Hangul vowel characters using the 16-keyKorean-language SIP shown in FIG. 16. A single touch input, as discussedabove with reference to FIG. 11, can be used with respect to key 1902and key 1904 to input the single-stroke vowels i and eu, respectively.All other vowels are composed of two or more strokes, each strokecorresponding to one of the keys 1902, 1904, and 1906. FIG. 19illustrates input of the vowel wa. A user uses two continuous,sequential inputs, as discussed above with reference to FIG. 15, toconstruct the vowel wa 1908. The user begins by directing a firstcontinuous-sequential input, represented by arrow 1910, starting withkey 1906, corresponding to the first short stroke 1912 of the vowel wa,and ending with key 1904, corresponding to the first horizontal stroke1914 of the vowel wa. The user finishes composing the vowel wa bydirecting a second continuous-sequential input, represented by arrow1916, starting with key 1902, corresponding to the first vertical stroke1918 of the vowel wa, and ending with key 1906, corresponding to thesecond short stroke 1920 of the vowel wa. FIG. 20, using the sameillustration conventions as used in FIG. 19, illustrates composition ofthe vowel ae using the Hangul vowel-stroke-associated keys 1902, 1904,and 1906 discussed with reference to FIG. 19.

FIG. 21 shows the 16-key Korean-language SIP of FIG. 16 with circledfrequency-of-occurrence ranks associated with each of the displayedconsonant characters. For example, the circled number “8” 2102 next tothe consonant mieum 2104 indicates that the consonant mieum is theeighth-most frequently occurring consonant. In examining FIG. 21, it isreadily apparent that the most frequently used consonants are clusteredwithin the right-hand three keys of the central rows 2106 and 2108 aswell as in key 2110 in the first row 2112. These keys are most easilyaccessed by a right-handed user using a single hand to hold a mobilephone as well as input touches and gestures to an SIP displayed by thephone. Thus, the distribution of symbols over the keys of the 16-keyKorean-language SIP is not arbitrary, but is designed to facilitate easyaccess and manipulation by users. The three keys 2114-2116 associatedwith Hangul vowel strokes are located together to facilitate continuous,sequential composition of Hangul vowels in a fashion similar to previousand currently available input devices and SIPs. By associating certainof the input keys with two or three consonants, rather than a singleconsonant, only 16 input keys are needed for fully functionalKorean-language-character input, allowing the keys to have sufficientsize to be easily accessed by users. The consonant-associated keys, thevowel-stroke-associated keys, and the control and toggle keys aregrouped into distinct functional regions of the 16-key Korean-languageSIP to provide simple and intuitive, function-based interaction tousers.

FIG. 22 shows the keys and key sequences used to input consonants viathe 16-key Korean-language SIP shown in FIG. 16. The basic consonants ofthe Hangul alphabet are shown in the first column 2202. The key or keysequence used to input each consonant is shown in the second column2204. Those consonants that can be doubled using a downward-directedgesture are indicated with asterisks, such as asterisk 2206. The firstnine consonants are input by touching the key associated with aconsonant, using the input type discussed above with reference to FIG.11. The final five consonants are input using an upward-directed gesturedirected to a key that centrally and prominently displays a similar butdifferent consonant, as discussed above with reference to FIG. 18. Forexample, the consonant chieut 2208 is input by inputting anupward-directed gesture to the key associated with consonant jieut, asindicated by the symbol for the consonant jieut and upward-pointingarrow combination 2210.

FIG. 23 shows the region-based gestures used to compose each of theHangul vowels via the 16-key Korean-language SIP shown in FIG. 16. Thekey sequences are shown as strokes interconnected by arrows to indicatecontinuous movement of the digit or thumb. Strokes withoutinterconnecting arrows are input by lifting the finger or thumb andagain touching the key with the finger or thumb. For example, the vowelyae 2302 is input by touching the vertical stroke key, continuouslymoving the touching digit or thumb to the short-stroke key, retouchingthe short-stroke key and then moving the touching finger or thumb to thevertical-stroke key, as indicated by the sequence 2304 shown in FIG. 23.

While mobile phones represent one type of electronic device within whichKorean-language SIPs and HIPs can be deployed, the Korean-language SIPsand HIPs to which the current application is directed may also beincorporated within many other types of electronic devices, includingtablet computers, laptop computers, personal computers, electronickiosks, and other types of electronic devices that support user inputthrough a SIP or HIP. FIG. 24 illustrates a general-purpose computersystem. The computer system contains one or multiple central processingunits (“CPUs”) 2402-2405, one or more electronic memories 2408interconnected with the CPUs by a CPU/memory-subsystem bus 2410 ormultiple busses, a first bridge 2412 that interconnects theCPU/memory-subsystem bus 2410 with additional busses 2414 and 2416, orother types of high-speed interconnection media, including multiple,high-speed serial interconnects. These busses or serialinterconnections, in turn, connect the CPUs and memory with specializedprocessors, such as a graphics processor 2418, and with one or moreadditional bridges 2420, which are interconnected with high-speed seriallinks or with multiple controllers 2422-2427, such as controller 2427,that provide access to various different types of mass-storage devices2428, electronic displays, input devices, and other such components,subcomponents, and computational resources. Tablet computers, personalcomputers, and many other computing devices in which Korean-languageSIPs and HIPs are incorporated may be described by the general-purposecomputer architecture shown in FIG. 24, or by related architectures.

Although the present invention has been described in terms of particularembodiments, it is not intended that the invention be limited to theseembodiments. Modifications within the spirit of the invention will beapparent to those skilled in the art. For example, the positions ofcertain of the key-associated symbols and characters within the 16-keyKorean-language SIP shown in FIG. 16 may be shifted or interchanged andthe vowel-stroke, consonant, and control/toggle regions may bealternatively distributed across the SIP. As one example, the relativelocations of the vowel-composition region, the consonant-compositionregion, and the control-and-toggle region may be changed to accommodatea left-hand user with respect to the relative locations of thevowel-composition region, the consonant-composition region, and thecontrol-and-toggle region for a right-hand user. For a Korean-languageSIP, the relative locations may be changed according input to theelectronic device that includes the Korean-language SIP. For aKorean-language HIP with keys that electronically display symbols, therelative locations may be similarly changed. For a Korean-language HIPwith keys imprinted or labelled with symbols, different versions of theelectronic device may be manufactured for left-handed and right-handedusers. Any number of different implementations may be obtained usingdifferent electronic display and input devices and by varying theimplementation parameters of the underlying control program, includingmodular organization, programming language, operating system, controlstructures, data structures, and other such implementation parameters.In certain implementations, space-separated groups of input charactersmay be arranged to form morpho-syllabic blocks by the 16-keyKorean-language SIP and control program for display in a text-entrywindow. In certain implementations, when a user input is directed to theKorean-language input panels may, the control program that controls theKorean-language input panels may generate audio tones or hapticfeedback, such as vibrations, mechanical forces, and other tactilesignals, to provide non-visual cues with regard to where, within theKorean-language input panels, the user input was directed. In certainimplementations, user input directed to a particular location within aKorean-language soft-input panel may result in resizing of an input keyor region at that location, or may result in generation of other visualcues in Korean-language SIPs and HIPs. Such visual cues may also begenerated predicatively, by the control program, to facilitate accurateinput by users. In certain implementations, the shapes, sizes, andappearance of the input features of the Korean-language SIPs and HIPsmay differ from those shown in FIGS. 16-21, and may also be altered byuser input or input-panel configuration operations.

It is appreciated that the previous description of the disclosedembodiments is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to makeor use the present disclosure. Various modifications to theseembodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, andthe generic principles defined herein may be applied to otherembodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of thedisclosure. Thus, the present disclosure is not intended to be limitedto the embodiments shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scopeconsistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

1. A Korean-language input-panel component of an electronic device, theKorean-language input panel comprising: a control program executed by aprocessor within the electronic device; an electronic memory that storescharacter sequences input through the Korean-language input panel; andinput keys arranged into three different functional regions, eachfunctional region containing related input keys that are adjacent to oneanother along one or two sides, the functional regions including avowel-composition region, a consonant-composition region, and acontrol-and-toggle region, two or more of the input keys in theconsonant-composition region implemented to recognize and differentlyrespond to touch and key-based-gesture input operations.
 2. TheKorean-language input panel of claim 1 wherein the vowel-compositionregion includes three vowel-stroke input keys, including: avertical-stroke input key; a short-stroke input key; and ahorizontal-stroke input key.
 3. The Korean-language input panel of claim2 wherein the vowel i is input by a touch input to the vertical-strokeinput key; wherein the vowel eu is input by a touch input to thehorizontal-stroke input key; and wherein all vowels other than i and euare constructed by one or more inputs to two or more of the threevowel-stroke input keys, the one or more inputs selected from single-keytouch inputs and continuous, sequential inputs.
 4. The Korean-languageinput panel of claim 1 wherein the consonant-composition region includes9 consonant-input keys, each of which prominently displays a differentHangul consonant that is input when a touch input is directed to theconsonant-input key.
 5. The Korean-language input panel of claim 4wherein the 9 consonant-input keys include consonant-input keys thatprominently display: the consonant mieum; the consonant digeut; theconsonant rieul; the consonant giyeok; the consonant siot; the consonantieung; the consonant nieun; the consonant jieut; and the consonantbieup.
 6. The Korean-language input panel of claim 4 wherein two or moreof the consonant-input keys each less prominently displays a secondconsonant formed by adding a stroke to the consonant prominentlydisplayed by the consonant-input key, the second consonant input byinputting a first type of key-based gesture to the consonant-input key.7. The Korean-language input panel of claim 6 wherein theconsonant-input key that prominently displays the consonant digeutadditionally less prominently displays the consonant tieut that includesan additional stroke with respect to the consonant digeut; wherein theconsonant-input key that prominently displays the consonant giyeokadditionally less prominently displays the consonant kieuk that includesan additional stroke with respect to the consonant giyeok; wherein theconsonant-input key that prominently displays the consonant ieungadditionally less prominently displays the consonant hieut that includesan additional stroke with respect to the consonant ieung; wherein theconsonant-input key that prominently displays the consonant jieutadditionally less prominently displays the consonant chieut thatincludes an additional stroke with respect to the consonant jieut; andwherein the consonant-input key that prominently displays the consonantbieup additionally less prominently displays the consonant pieup thatincludes an additional stroke with respect to the consonant bieup. 8.The Korean-language input panel of claim 4 wherein two or more of theconsonant-input keys each less prominently displays a second consonantformed by doubling the consonant prominently displayed by theconsonant-input key, the second consonant input by inputting a secondtype of key-based gesture to the consonant-input key.
 9. TheKorean-language input panel of claim 6 wherein the consonant-input keythat prominently displays the consonant digeut additionally lessprominently displays the consonant ssangdigeut comprising a sequence oftwo consonants digeut; wherein the consonant-input key that prominentlydisplays the consonant giyeok additionally less prominently displays theconsonant ssanggiyeok comprising a sequence of two consonants giyeok;wherein the consonant-input key that prominently displays the consonantbieup additionally less prominently displays the consonant ssangbieupcomprising a sequence of two consonants bieup; wherein theconsonant-input key that prominently displays the consonant siotadditionally less prominently displays the consonant ssangsiotcomprising a sequence of two consonants siot; and wherein theconsonant-input key that prominently displays the consonant jieutadditionally less prominently displays the consonant ssangjieutcomprising a sequence of two consonants jieut.
 10. The Korean-languageinput panel of claim 1 wherein the Korean-language input panel comprises16 input keys arranged in four rows each containing four input keys;wherein the vowel-composition region includes the last two input keys ofthe first row and last input key of the second row; wherein theconsonant-composition region includes the first two input keys of thefirst row and all four input keys of the second and third rows; andwherein the control-and-toggle region includes all four input keys ofthe fourth row.
 11. Korean-language input panel of claim 10 wherein therelative locations of the vowel-composition region, theconsonant-composition region, and the control-and-toggle region may bechanged to accommodate a left-hand user with respect to the relativelocations of the vowel-composition region, the consonant-compositionregion, and the control-and-toggle region for a right-hand user.
 12. AKorean-language input-panel component of an electronic device, theKorean-language input panel comprising: a control program executed by aprocessor within the electronic device; an electronic memory that storescharacter sequences input through the Korean-language input panel; and16 input keys arranged into three different functional regions, eachfunctional region containing related input keys that are adjacent to oneanother along one or two sides, the functional regions including avowel-composition region that includes three vowel-stroke keys, aconsonant-composition region that includes 9 consonant-input keys, and acontrol-and-toggle region that includes four input keys.
 13. TheKorean-language input panel of claim 12 wherein the vowel-compositionregion includes: a vertical-stroke input key; a short-stroke input key;and a horizontal-stroke input key.
 14. The Korean-language input panelof claim 13 wherein the vowel i is input by a touch input to thevertical-stroke input key; wherein the vowel eu is input by a touchinput to the horizontal-stroke input key; and wherein all vowels otherthan i and eu are constructed by continuous sequential input to two ormore of the three vowel-stroke input keys, the one or more inputsselected from single-key touch inputs and continuous, sequential inputs.15. The Korean-language input panel of claim 12 wherein theconsonant-composition region includes 9 consonant-input keys, each ofwhich prominently displays a different Hangul consonant that is inputwhen a touch input is directed to the consonant-input key, two or moreof the consonant-input keys implemented to recognize and differentlyrespond to touch and key-based gesture input operations.
 16. TheKorean-language input panel of claim 15 wherein two or more of theconsonant-input keys each less prominently displays a second consonantformed by adding a stroke to the consonant prominently displayed by theconsonant-input key, the second consonant input by inputting a firsttype of key-based gesture to the consonant-input key.
 17. TheKorean-language input panel of claim 4 wherein two or more of theconsonant-input keys each less prominently displays a second consonantformed by doubling the consonant prominently displayed by theconsonant-input key, the second consonant input by inputting a secondtype of key-based gesture to the consonant-input key.
 18. AKorean-language input-panel component of an electronic device, theKorean-language input panel comprising: a vowel-composition regioncontaining vowel-stroke keys that are adjacent to one another along oneor two sides; a consonant-composition region containing constant-inputkeys that are adjacent to one another along one or two sides; and acontrol-and-toggle region containing control and toggle keys that areadjacent to one another along one or two sides.
 19. The Korean-languageinput panel of claim 18 wherein the vowel-composition region includesthree vowel-stroke input keys, including: a vertical-stroke input key; ashort-stroke input key; and a horizontal-stroke input key.
 20. TheKorean-language input panel of claim 18 wherein theconsonant-composition region includes 9 consonant-input keys, each ofwhich prominently displays a different Hangul consonant that is inputwhen a touch input is directed to the consonant-input key, two or moreof which each less prominently displays a second consonant formed byadding a stroke to the consonant prominently displayed by theconsonant-input key, and two or more of which each less prominentlydisplays a second consonant formed by doubling the consonant prominentlydisplayed by the consonant-input key.